


Valentine

by orphan_account



Category: Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)
Genre: Also- Edith's Birthday is on Feb 14th so...yeah, Egg Casserole, F/M, I'm usually not a big fan of the holiday but I couldn't help myself this year, Minor Swearing, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 16:09:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13685127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It was Valentine’s day, and this year, for the first time in what felt like a lifetime...she was excited about it.





	Valentine

**Author's Note:**

> Hehe, so-  
> So yeah.  
> Anyway, kudos to JackieSugarskull for giving this a quick once-over so that I didn't make an absolute fool of myself. Also- thank them, because they were able to find out that Edith's Birthday is on February 14th, Valentine's Day.  
> So like... I had to.  
> Hope you enjoy!

       Edith reached into her pocket to once again play with the edge of the letter nestled there, watching the clock.

       She could do this.

       Scuttling to the school’s industrial fridge, Edith checked again on the tupperware container that she had tucked away in the back. It was still there, as it had been every other time she had checked it, but that didn’t stop her from gently opening the lid just to make sure- absolutely sure- that nothing had changed.

       3:15 seemed forever away, and with the way her heart was pounding, she wasn’t sure she’d ever live to see it. It was overdramatic, she knew, to be feeling like this, but it was impossible for her to not.

       It was Valentine’s day.

       And this year, for the first time in what felt like a lifetime...she was excited about it.

       Pulling the letter out of her pocket, she played with it, holding it between the points of two fingers and letting the open flaps swing. She knew what she had written inside, she had mulled it over for days before finally putting pen to paper, but she couldn’t wait to see Ben’s face when he finally opened it.

       She was lucky, though few others might have had a similar view. That was just because they didn’t know him. Edith was aware of the implications of that phrase, but really- they didn’t know him. He was hard, like a rock, really, and while on the one hand that could be daunting, on the other, she knew he would never change. Furthermore, for better or for worse, with his rocky disposition, he was also kind of like her lodestone. She read the word once, in one of those paperback romances she’d pick up while grocery shopping, and she’d kinda held onto it until she could find a person to use it on. Ben, against all odds...ended up being that person.

       Someone she gravitated towards, someone who made wherever she was feel like home. 

       They’d been… dating was a strong word, for what they were doing, but it fit. Ben would have stammered and blushed if she ever broached the subject, so she didn’t, but...well, eventually she might, if only to see his face, if only to hear him in his own words say that yes, they were, just to make it formal. Sometimes, she still couldn’t wrap her head around it, and yet, there were times it was so painfully obvious, it almost hurt. When he gave his word on something, he meant it, and when he promised to do something, she knew he’d come through. Not once- not ever- had he let her down.

       That meant the world to her, and if that wasn’t the kind of stuff a relationship was based on, well then, she didn’t know what was.

       And under that rocky surface, way down under...he was kind.

       Not nice, Ben would never be nice, but he was kind, genuinely and painfully so. He wasn’t one much for words, but actions, and it had taken her a while to figure out that the little things that had been done to help her had been done by him, with no letters of notice or explanation. He’d pick up things, little things, for her, never really saying anything about it, just doing it; her favorite bagels from the corner store, feathers to place in the pots of the dying plants that occupied her windowsill, books by authors he knew she read. Ben just- Ben just was, and Ben just did, because Ben was simply...Ben

       She wasn’t wasn’t exactly use to that either.

       Edith checked the tupperware container in the refrigerator once more, just to be doubly sure, before closing the door and leaning against it, playing with the letter again.

       Nothing about this whole relationship had been what she expected. Even still, a whole year into it, she could still overthink herself into a daze trying to pinpoint and define exactly what was happening and how it had started. This thing between them- it wasn’t like any expectations she had when growing up. Edith had figured that she’d end up with a prince of a man, someone tall with a smile of straight white teeth and a head full of hair. It would be love at first sight across some crowded room; a dance floor, or a coffee shop. Once he’d whisk her off her feet with grand and overthetop gestures of romance, they’d live happily ever after.

       The first time Ben said he loved her- actually said it with real words while looking at her- was only about a few months ago, and he’d said it with a bleeding nose because the potato she had been peeling slipped out of her hand and hit him directly in the face.

       Edith couldn’t help but chuckle a little in the quiet of the kitchen thinking of that, biting her lip as she flipped the card open one more time to read what she had written and hoped, maybe, he’d laugh too.

       “Hey.”

       Edith jumped, nearly dropping the card, as she turned to see Ben standing quietly in the doorway of the kitchen, both their coats over his arm, her pocketbook slung over his shoulder along with his briefcase, “H-hey.”

       He stared at her then, quietly, and she felt the blush rise up from her neck. It wasn’t until she heard the letter start to crinkle in her hand that she remembered she was even holding it. “Ah,” she mumbled as she thrust it toward him, “Here, for you.”  

       She could have beaten herself over the head with a stick for that, sounding like one of the kindergartners trying to hand out those postage-stamp-sized valentines, but as she watched Ben, she saw his face grow flushed to match hers.

       “What is this?” he mumbled, taking the card gently from her.

       Edith’s heart had never sunk faster, “It’s...it’s Valentine’s day.”

       “...What?”

       “Valentine’s day, Ben,” she said, unable to keep the edge from her voice as she gestured to the hearts hanging around the cafeteria, “You know, February 14th?”

       He looked at her blankly, looked at the streamers of hearts, at the card in his hand, and then it all seemed to click, “Oh fuck!”

       “Ben-!”

       “But-”

       “Language!”

       “Frick, then! Heck! Whatever!” he threw his arms into the air, “I just- b-b-but- I couldn’t-shit-”

       “Language.”

       “Shoot- No, I can’t- Edith- I just- Don’t make me, not now,” he took a deep breath, “I- I totally- shit.”

       Edith stopped breathing, lungs burning with the air she couldn’t seem to let go of as she looked at him. He forgot. He actually forgot. She’d been up half the night, her pounding heart and panic making it impossible to sleep, making her wander into the kitchen where she’d spent the other half of the night trying to figure out how to bake an apple and apricot corstada. She’d defended him and supported him and loved him- she did, she loved him- and here he was, and he forgot.

       Absolutely forgot.

       You’d think she’d have gotten used to being let down by this point, but evidently, she wasn’t. She supposed it was just because she was so hopeful this would turn out differently.

       Edith wilted, fingers tangling together as her eyes and heart slowly made contact with the floor, “It’s okay,” she said, doing her best to keep her voice up, “It- you know, it happens. Stuff happens-”   

       “Nononono- don’t-” she felt him grab her by her upper arm, thumbs rubbing over her shoulders. The gesture was so unlike him she had to look up to make sure it was still Ben, and sure enough, it was, though he wore a face with an expression of something akin to desperation, “Don’t do that- no- listen- listen- I’m sorry, but for some reason I had it in my head that today was your birthday, not-” he waved a hand at the streamers, “Not Valentine’s day. I have no idea why-”

       Oh.

       Oh he-

       “It is.”

       “...What?”

       “It is my birthday,” she mumbled, looking at him with wide eyes, “but I don’t usually celebrate it.”

       Ben’s face twisted, “Why?”

       “I don’t know,” she shrugged, “We just- when I was a kid, we just didn’t, so I never made a big deal out of it and...yeah... How do you even know?”

       He looked away then, face going red, “I...I may...have...pulled your personal portfolio... at the beginning of the year.”  

       “...You pulled my locked file to-”

       “I didn’t- I mean, if I asked you, it would ruin the surprise.”

       Oh.

       Edith went from not being sure if she was going to cry to not being sure if she was going to laugh in naught point five seconds, and something on her face must have made Ben concerned, because he quickly said, “Listen, if you want to do Valentines day instead, that’s more than fine with me- it’s your day. If I did something to upset you-”

       “You-,” she gave a watery giggle, “You- you really- you’re too funny.”

       She kissed him on the nose and laughed when he went slightly cross-eyed. Shaking her head, Edith moved to hold him, “I don’t care what we do, honestly.”

       “You sure? Absolutely sure?”

       “Yeah,” she smiled, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck, “I’m sure.”


End file.
